


Mind Upload: Two Choices, One Survivor

by Wu_Ling



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-13 03:29:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20575715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wu_Ling/pseuds/Wu_Ling
Summary: Six minutes left on the clock. At this point, how it all ends is anyone's guess.





	Mind Upload: Two Choices, One Survivor

The cord trembled in her hands, but she kept her hold firm, and held out to her junior.

“_T-minus 6 minutes...5 minute 59 seconds, 58 seconds, 57 seconds..._” the machine counted behind them, the solid walls grinding ever closer. The generic blue screen flickered, waiting for an upload.

“Do it,” she said, scarcely able to hear her own voice. It was as if she was behind glass, and the hand that drops the cord into his hands wasn’t her own. “We’re almost out of time - you need to upload yourself now.”

“But-” he started to protest.

She thought she was ready for the conflict that played out on his face. She thought she had already accepted that she wasn’t going to be the one that gets out of here alive.

She pulled away before he could hand it back to her, frowning as disapprovingly as she could. “No,” she told him firmly. “It has to be you.”

He glanced at the monitor then back at her. “Maybe the quota is wrong, maybe more than one person can be uploaded-” he tried, but she screamed at him, grimly satisfied that he immediately clamps up.

“It’s not wrong, and we’re not going to waste time on unprovable variables. Listen here kid, we’re about to _die_, and this,” she pointed at the counter, “is the only way for ‘one’ of us to survive. And it has to be you.”

“You keep saying that, but you’re compatible too,” he said, saying out loud the source of her insecurities. “You’re older, you have more experience and...I’m just a junior.”

_3 minutes..._

“But I’m not the genius,” she admitted, “you are. You’re needed, your mind is useful. And you know it too. You need to survive, you need to be persevered.”

She let out a self-depreciating laugh.

“C-could you imagine, what they could gain from my mind? I’m a fake, a poor imitation to the limitless potential you’d be able to accomplish. You, you could actually help people.”

He stared at her hard. “Yet at the cost of killing you.”

“It’s the most logical choice-”

“I don’t care!” He fisted his hands, angry. “You’re not throwing your life away-”

“That’s not what I’m doing! I’m making a conscious choice, one you know full well is right-”

“Then I’ll die-”

“I’m saving your life, damn it. Stop being so difficult!”

His eyes flashed. “It’s my choice to make.”

“By all means, make the incredibly stupid decision,” she sneered. “High loss, zero gain. What a _genius_.”

A flash of hurt, then his expression hardened. “Fine, I can die with you hating me,” he said, so finally that she almost didn’t tackle him in time.

A pained groan escaped from him as his back collided against the wall, the cord falling out of his grasp, clattering noisily on the concrete.

_2 minutes, 33 seconds.._. the bold, green numbers flashed at her periphery.

She tightened her grip on his forearms. “That’s enough.”

Disoriented as he was, he continued to struggle against her.

“I said **enough**!”

She raised her voice and immediately, he stilled.

“If you force me,” he panted, going limped in her hold. Pure stubbornness shone in his eyes. “I’ll hate you.”

The fact that they were still playing around with this game irked her.

Despite the age difference, they were both equally mature and practical people.

This was the right decision.

The best must be kept, and anyone who stands in the way of that should be swept to the side.

It sort of felt useless, wasting away all those years cultivating so much effort to become someone she hoped she could be proud of; to be confident, intelligent, to be that person people could depend on.

To be useful.

To be _needed_.

And in this moment, where life and death depended on their potential to be useful to society, she knew she wasn’t the candidate this supposed algorithm wanted.

Because no amount of hard work could make her the genius that he was.

“I know my value,” she said. “And it’s because I know it, I’m asking- no, I’m _ordering_ you to save yourself.”

_1 minute, 11 seconds..._

The stubborn light refused to dim, and the desperation she tried to keep at bay all this while filled her then. “Listen to me,” she pleaded, panic rising. “We lose everything if we both die! Can you live with that, losing?”

_57 seconds, 56 seconds..._

“Yes. I._ Can.”_

She snatched the cord, and pointed the three pronged head to his nape. And despite her trembling hand, her voice was steady. “I need your consent.”

Rage contorted his features. “Seconds,” he hissed. “A few more seconds won’t change anything."

_31 seconds, 30 seconds..._

“_Give me your goddamn yes_,” she demanded.

_27 seconds..._

“Over my _dead body_.”

She redirected the cord to her own neck, openly glaring as his eyes narrowed in warning.

“It’s either you or _me_,” she said lowly. “I’ll upload myself right now and leave you here to _rot_.”

With a cry of outrage, he lunged at her. She fell as he tackled her, then using the momentum, pushed him right off her. He flew, back colliding once again with the wall, but this time with a sickening crack.

Blood dribbled down his temples, drawing a sinister lines on his face.

_14 seconds..._

She panted, then forced herself to get up. The cord was still in her hands and more importantly, it was out of his reach.

_13 seconds, 12 seconds..._

There was barely any space left, the three walls squeezing in ever closer as precious seconds passed.

_11 seconds...._

She knelt in front of him, the cord close enough for him to grab.

But he didn’t.

Instead, he watched, with a furious yet defeated expression.

“It’s for the best,” she whispered, not believing a word of it. “You’ll live.”

_7 seconds, 6 seconds..._

He wheezed. “Like the dead pretending to be alive.” She remained silent at that. He closed his eyes. “Be quick.”

Without hesitation, she shoved the cord into the base of his neck.

_5 seconds..._

The computer hummed to life, whirring and processing. The blue glow replaced by golden amber.

“_Upload in process. Please do not disconnect until completion_.”

_4 seconds..._

She pushed him closer to the monitor, away from the crushing walls.

They locked gazes one last time. Then she was lost, vision blackening and screaming her head off.

_3 seconds..._

Her legs went first, grinding under the moving stone, bones snapping and muscles shredded to a bloody gruel. Her torso went next, followed by her neck, then her head.

_2 seconds..._

_“Upload completed.”_

_1 second..._

The walls closed in firmly, crushing the computer to pieces.


End file.
